Chapter Text
It’ll be fine, Wild had said. The wizzrobes are just annoying and shoot projectiles at you, Wild had said. Don’t worry, I’ve got this, Wild had said.
“What part of this have you got? ” Hyrule yelps, diving out of the way as a wizzrobe launches another crackling ball of curse energy.
“None of us are dead yet!” Wild calls back, a little higher pitched than normal.
“Stay focused!” Time orders them, carving an arc out of the surrounding monsters with a fierce swing of his sword. “We need to take those things out before they can do any real damage. Wild, can you -”
He doesn’t get a chance to finish.
A blast from a nearby wizzrobe, who had until that point been focused on Sky, catches Time full in the chest, and he’s blasted backwards across the monster camp. Hyrule watches, heart in his throat, as Time collapses, dark energy crackling across his armor.
“Hyrule, watch out!”
Hyrule blinks at the sound of metal on metal, and he sees Legend suddenly in front of him, holding up a shield to protect him from a moblin that just tried to stab him.
“We can’t help him if we’re dead,” Legend snaps, and if Hyrule knew him a little less he would miss the terror humming underneath the anger.
“Right, right -” Hyrule takes a breath and throws himself back into the fight. The sooner they end this, the sooner he can make sure Time is okay.
It goes on for too long. They cut down monster after monster, and Twilight manages to fight his way over and protect Time, but it still takes too long before the camp is finally, finally empty.
Hyrule sprints immediately for Time, only to stop short at what he sees.
Time isn’t there.
Instead, there is a small child in the place where Time used to be, dressed in a green tunic with an oddly familiar green hat, sitting up and rubbing his eyes with a wince.
Hyrule shares an alarmed glance with Twilight. What sort of curse was that? That… that can’t be Time, can it?
Except it can, because as the kid stands up and looks around - goddesses he’s short - Hyrule can see the eyes, the hair, the basic face structure that will become more angular as he grows up.
They’re already dealing with time travel. This may as well happen.
And then he notices them.
“… Who are you?” the tiny child in front of them asks, backing away a step and glancing nervously between all of them. “You aren’t Kokiri.”
“Nah, we’re way cooler than Kokiri.” Wind recovers first, and he moves to the front of the group and kneels down with a bright grin. “I’m Wind, what’s your name?”
Time - he’s smaller than Four, dear Hylia he’s so little - blinks at him, then ducks his head a bit. Hyrule notices that he’s holding a fistful of the fabric of his tunic, like Hyrule does when he gets nervous. “… Link.”
Wind’s smile gets wider. “Link’s an awesome name! I’m kinda jealous, honestly.”
“… Wind isn’t a bad name, though,” Baby Time points out. Apparently other people putting themselves down, even as a joke, is enough to break through a bit of his shyness. “Everybody likes it when the wind blows, even Mido, and he doesn’t like anything except being in charge.”
Wind snorts. “He doesn’t sound like much fun.”
“He’s mean,” Time says, and it gives Hyrule whiplash to see such a familiar expression of righteous anger on such a small face. Then Time’s eyes widen like he’s afraid he’ll get in trouble for saying it.
Twilight steps in, then, and sits cross-legged on the ground next to Wind, probably in an effort to be less intimidating. “Tell you what. We won’t tell Mido you think he’s mean, so long as you don’t tell him we agree with you, alright?”
Wind nods along enthusiastically.
“… Okay,” Time says after a moment.
Twilight smiles at him, and he looks weirdly gentle. “Great. I’m Twilight, I’m Wind’s friend. And this is Legend, Wild -”
He goes around the little semi-circle that’s formed, ending with “- and that’s Hyrule.”
Hyrule gives Baby Time an awkward little wave.
Time’s eyes go wide, and there’s a sort of reverence in his voice when he gasps “A fairy!”
Hyrule has a split second of utter, mind-numbing terror. He’s been so careful to hide all the signs of his ancestry, how in the name of Hylia does Baby Time know about it?? Does that mean normal Time knows too, and just hasn’t said anything??
And then the moment passes, Hyrule remembers that Time is a tiny, scared child right now, and he breathes. Children like fairies, right? He can totally walk a line for this. It’ll be fine. He’s done harder things.
“I’m supposed to be hiding,” he says softly, putting a finger to his lips, and he gives Time the best smile he can manage. “Good eye.”
“Oh!” Time mimics his gesture for quiet, then whispers “Sorry.”
“You didn’t know, it’s alright,” Hyrule assures him.
The others are giving him some odd looks, but Hyrule ignores them. He’ll come up with a cover story later - playing along with the scared kid to calm him down is believable, right?
Warriors hums thoughtfully, looking around them at the now-destroyed monster camp. “We should probably get moving. This isn’t exactly a safe place to stay.”
“Right, right -” Wild pulls out his slate and starts looking over the map. “There’s a stable fairly close by, it should only take us a day or so to get there. I can take us the long way and we shouldn’t run into any more monsters.”
“Monsters?” Time pipes up, and several members of the group startle when they realize he’s standing over by Wild now, hands behind his back, head tilted slightly to one side as he looks at the slate. “Like deku scrubs? Those aren’t bad, you just have to redirect the deku nuts and chase them around.”
“We don’t have deku scrubs here,” Wild tells him, kneeling down to show him the map.
Time looks at the slate in awe for a few seconds, then freezes. “… Where are we?”
“Right now, we’re here, in Damel Forest.” Wild points to a section of the map shaded darker than the rest. “There’s a road over here, and it’ll take us right to a stable, where it’ll be safer.”
Time is staring at the map, and he’s starting to shake, just a little. His ears are slowly flattening back against his head.
Twilight notices it before Hyrule can figure out what to do. “Link? What’s wrong?”
“I’m gonna die,” he gasps, wrapping his arms around his stomach like he’s trying to shield himself.
“No, no, you aren’t,” Twilight soothes, resting a hand on Time’s back. “We’ll protect you.”
Time shakes his head violently. “No, the Great Deku Tree said we can’t leave the forest or we’ll die, that’s how it works, and I’m out of the forest - I’m gonna die, I don’t want to die -”
Legend snorts. “No you aren’t, kid. Want to know why?”
“Hm?” Time looks over at him, and his lip is starting to wobble.
“You didn’t leave the forest, you were taken out of it,” Legend explains. “Big difference. These things have to be very specific. And look, you’re not dead yet, are you? And neither are we.”
Time holds out one tiny - goddesses, so tiny - hand and stares at it for a minute. “… I guess. Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“… Okay.” Time takes a deep breath, and his ears start to perk up again. “Are we close to the Great Deku Tree, though? I need to get home.”
Oh, that does not sit right with Hyrule at all.
He glances around at the others, and they all look similarly uncomfortable. Why is Time so eager to get back to a place he was threatened to stay in? Who would tell a child they’re going to die if they set foot outside their home?
The Great Deku Tree, apparently, which doesn’t help Hyrule whatsoever. He’s never met a tree with that name.
Wild is squinting at his map, sliding it around with a finger. “Uh… I wouldn’t say we’re close… we could head that way, maybe? It’s the opposite direction of the stable.”
“Please?” Time says quietly. He looks up at the rest of them, and he looks so lost.
“We didn’t really have a direction anyway,” Hyrule points out. He hates seeing Time like that. “Is the way there safe?”
“I can make it safe,” Wild says firmly, tapping at his slate again. “It’ll take longer, but I know where most of the monster camps are. We’ll go around them.”
Warriors nods. “We’ll head for the Great Deku Tree, then. Everyone, get yourselves ready to move.”
None of them argue. Not with Time looking so relieved and the vague feeling that there’s a lot he hasn’t told them in the back of their minds.
Time huddles near Hyrule as Wild and a few of the others start hunting for any loot the monsters left behind. After a minute, he tugs lightly on Hyrule’s shirt, and when Hyrule looks down at him there’s an obscure sort of grief in his eyes. “You aren’t here for me, are you?”
“What do you mean?” Hyrule asks, kneeling down so they can talk quietly.
“Everyone in the village has a fairy but me,” Time tells him, and Hyrule is familiar enough with hiding the sting of rejection that he recognizes how much that fact is hurting Time. “And… and I was sort of hoping…”
Oh. Hyrule lets out a breath. “I… I’m sorry, Link.”
“It’s okay, none of the other fairies wanted to be my partner either,” Time says with a little shrug.
And that just -
“Well,” Hyrule says before he can think better of it, “I don’t have a partner, really. I’m supposed to help everyone in the group. And that includes you, now, so… while you’re here, we can hang out together. How does that sound?”
Time stares at him for a second, his eyes very wide. Then he nods, slowly at first, then more vigorously.
“Okay.” Hyrule stands up and holds out his hand with a smile. “Come on, I think we’re about ready to leave.”
Time takes his hand - he has to reach up to do it - and gives him a wobbly little smile back. “Okay.”
Things start out fairly well. The forest isn’t too difficult to traverse, and Wild is confident as always as he leads them through. Time is happy enough to let Hyrule hold his hand as they travel, so he won’t be left behind, and he looks at everything around him with a wide-eyed wonder.
(Hyrule remembers that this version of Time has never been outside his own forest before and fights the urge to punch something. Or cry. He honestly isn’t sure yet.)
Eventually, Time starts quietly asking Hyrule questions. What that plant is, how big this forest is, that sort of thing. Hyrule tells him he isn’t sure, for a lot of them.
“I’m not from here,” he explains, gently tugging Time around a puddle. “This is where Wild is from. My world is a lot more… empty. There aren’t as many kinds of plants, and there definitely aren’t this many animals.”
“Oh,” Time says with a frown. He thinks about that for a moment, then pulls on Hyrule’s hand and leads him over to the side of the path. He picks a flower from a tiny cluster of them and hands it, very seriously, to Hyrule. “Here, you can take some with you! That way you always have it.”
There are a few muffled sounds from other members of the Chain that almost sound like they’re dying.
Hyrule takes the flower very carefully and tucks it behind his ear. A gift given freely, with pure intentions, has a lot of power for a fairy, and the warmth of it spreads through Hyrule like he’s taken a sip of a hot drink. “Thank you. I’ll take good care of it, I promise.”
Time beams at him, and they continue on.
The kid has much smaller legs than normal, and he starts to flag as evening sets in. Upon noticing this, Warriors decides they should set up camp a little earlier than usual.
“We have plenty of time to get there,” he reasons, “so let’s not push ourselves too hard.”
Hyrule isn’t sure why Warriors is the one who ended up in charge, but with Time… unavailable to lead, he supposes someone had to step up. Sky seems perfectly happy not being in charge of the group, Legend doesn’t give orders graciously, and no one else has the sort of authority they’d need to lead. Hyrule certainly isn’t going to argue for the position himself.
Regardless, the idea of stopping a little early is a popular one, so they all agree to set up camp.
“Hey,” Wild whispers conspiratorially to Time as the others start gathering firewood and setting up bedrolls. “What sort of food do you like?”
Time blinks at him. Then he frowns, obviously thinking. “Um… we have sweet foods a lot? Berries are good, I like those.”
“I can work with sweets,” Wild says with a grin. He hurries over to help set up the campfire and get out his supplies.
“Wild does most of the cooking for us,” Hyrule explains, because it suddenly occurs to him that Baby Time doesn’t know that. “He makes sure to cook things everyone likes.”
“Oh.”
Time is quiet for a while - he’s quiet a lot, Hyrule’s realized, but that might be because he’s in a new place with strange people - and Hyrule doesn’t really notice him moving away until he’s standing next to Wild, watching him very closely.
Wild notices him with a little twitch of surprise, but he recovers incredibly quickly and gives Time a smile. “Want to help?”
“… I don’t know how,” Time says quietly, grabbing little fistfuls of his tunic again.
“That’s okay, it’s not hard,” Wild promises him. He very carefully hands Time a bowl of something that looks like flour and starts giving him quiet directions, patiently walking him through the steps of whatever he’s making.
Hyrule sits back and just watches for a minute. Time’s look of concentration is familiar, but Hyrule notices his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth when he starts to mix water into the flour. When had Time stopped doing that? Had he meant to?
“It’s so weird,” he murmurs to Sky, who happens to be the closest person to whisper to.
“Hm?” Sky blinks up from where he was focused on the Master Sword. “What’s - oh. Time, yeah.”
Hyrule makes a helpless little noise and gestures toward Wild and Time. Time has a smudge of flour on his cheek and Hyrule has no idea how it got there. “He’s so Time and so not Time and it’s weird.”
“Well, of course he isn’t going to be Time,” Four reasons, wandering over and sitting down next to Hyrule. “People get shaped by their experiences, and the old man’s done a lot.”
“I know, I know, it’s just weird,” Hyrule insists. He doesn’t know how else to phrase the vague feeling of vertigo that comes from being around someone who isn’t Time, but occasionally acts so much like him it’s like Time is looking out at him through this tiny little kid’s eyes.
Four absently takes out a dagger and a whetstone. “… This will wear off, right?”
“It should, that wizzrobe wasn’t strong enough to make a major change like this permanent.” I hope goes unsaid.
“He’s very cute, though,” Sky muses.
Four snorts, and Hyrule buries his head in his hands.
Sky muffles a laugh of his own and pokes Hyrule’s side. “What? He is! He gave you that flower earlier and it was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen Time do.”
“I don’t like kids,” Four announces, but Hyrule notices that he keeps his voice down when he says it. “You and Wind and Twilight can handle all that. But… yeah, he’s a little bit cute.”
There’s a flicker of movement in the corner of Hyrule’s vision, and he looks over to see Twilight approaching the campfire. He reaches over and blindly smacks at the other two without taking his eyes off of the scene that’s about to unfold. “Guys. Guys look.”
“What - oh.” Four leans forward with rapt attention. “Oh, this is going to be good.”
Twilight kneels down by the fire and starts talking quietly to Time. Time does not seem interested in conversation; he keeps giving Twilight short answers, and he isn’t looking at him all that much. Time’s focus appears to be entirely on the dough he’s mixing.
Eventually, Wild gives Twilight a rap on the head with a ladle to make him go away, and it’s probably more gentle than it looks. Hyrule hopes.
“Stop bothering us, we’re making dinner,” Wild scolds, and Legend’s addition of quit bothering the cooks, rancher chases Twilight back across the camp to his previous corner. When he settles back into his place, it’s with that little twitch of a frown and crossed arms that say he’s trying to pretend he isn’t sulking.
“What was that all about?” Sky asks with mild confusion.
“Twilight wants Time to like him,” Four explains. “Time’s still figuring us all out, so Twilight and probably everyone else is going to compete for his attention. They’re all going to embarrass themselves and it’s going to be really funny to watch, since again, I don’t like kids, so I’ll just be watching.”
Hyrule frowns, thinking about it. “… Why do you think it’ll be embarrassing?”
“Because you’re his favorite and that’s not likely to change,” Four says matter of factly.
Hyrule splutters for a minute, trying to deny it, but Sky just laughs and agrees with Four.
“He’s been practically attached to you all day,” Sky points out, and he gestures once again to the flower in Hyrule’s hair. “And he definitely likes you. There’s been nothing like that with anyone else.”
“Hyrule!”
Hyrule blinks at the call of his name, so much higher pitched than normal, and he refocuses on Time.
The kid has run over from the campfire, holding something very carefully in his hands, and he holds it out to Hyrule with a proud smile. “Wild says we need a tasting test.”
“What are you making?” Hyrule asks, automatically holding his hands out to accept whatever food Time has for him.
“Bread!”
Hyrule is given a small piece of flatbread, obviously fried in a pan. It smells good, and when he takes a bite, he hums happily at the taste.
“Is it good?” Time asks, almost a little anxiously.
“Mhm!” Hyrule assures him with a bright nod, then takes another bite of his bread. It tastes good, yes, but again, there’s the spark of a gift given, like there always is when someone else cooks for him. It always makes everything taste so much warmer and more comforting.
Time beams at him, then runs back over to the fire to confer excitedly with Wild.
“You’re the favorite, Roolie,” Four tells him with a knowing look.
If it keeps getting him bread, Hyrule thinks he’s okay with that.
Dinner is fairly simple that night, at least on the surface. Wild and Time have made plenty of flatbread for everyone, and Wild made several different types of meat to put on it. Time very proudly shows everyone how to wrap the meat up in the bread, and the way he keeps glancing over to Wild to make sure he’s doing it right is incredibly endearing.
Hyrule goes for something with not as much flavoring - bless Wild for remembering he doesn’t handle rich or heavily spiced foods very well - and happily digs in. It’s as delicious as ever.
Wild definitely has something else up his sleeve, though. He keeps glancing over at Time with a grin, and he’s shifting around and keeping an eye on how much everyone else has eaten.
Dessert, maybe? Hyrule inhales the rest of his food and waits, as patiently as he can.
(It isn’t that patiently. Wild makes good desserts, and fairies tend to have a weakness for sweets.)
Eventually, Wild must decide they’ve all eaten enough that he can introduce the next course, and he happily plonks down a bowl of something that looks like berry mush. “I also made this for dessert! That’s why there’s so much bread.”
Time’s eyes are very wide; apparently, Wild hadn’t told him about this. “What is it?”
“It’s mostly berries, but there’s plenty of honey in there, too,” Wild tells him with a grin. “It should be sweet enough for you and Hyrule.”
“Hylia bless you,” Hyrule tells him fervently, running over to get several more pieces of flatbread.
The mush is very sweet with a little bit of a tang, and Hyrule absolutely loves it. He eats two pieces of bread slathered with it before he has to stop. It feels like a cruel punishment from the universe that he can get full and can’t eat this forever.
“I’m saving the leftovers, Roolie,” Wild assures him when he voices this thought. “You can eat more later.”
“Have I mentioned I love you?”
“Not since the last time I made dessert,” Wild says with a laugh.
Their next real problem comes, oddly enough, when they all get ready to sleep.
“I don’t want to go to bed,” Time says stubbornly, crossing his arms and glaring.
“You’ll regret that decision in the morning,” Warriors warns him.
“No I won’t.”
Hyrule sighs. “Link, please, we’ll have a watch all night, it’ll be safe.”
Time shakes his head, still scowling.
Wind comes over and kneels down to be closer to Time’s eye level. “Okay, why don’t you want to go to bed?”
“… Don’t want to,” Time repeats, but it’s closer to a mumble this time. He isn’t making eye contact with Wind.
“But why? We can’t help if we don’t know why, can we?”
Time is quiet for a long moment, shifting his weight a little as he thinks. Then he says, very quietly, “… I get bad dreams.”
“I get bad dreams sometimes, too,” Wind says with a knowing nod. “They’re no fun. But you can’t just not sleep because of them, that’s not good for you.”
“It isn’t sometimes,” Time bursts out, “it’s all the time!”
Hyrule’s heart sinks. This poor kid, what’s happened to him already that he’s having nightmares every night?
Time hesitates for a second, glancing around at the rest of them like he’s afraid of being overheard, but most of the Chain is valiantly pretending to be busy with their own things, so he takes a deep breath and says in a much quieter voice “It’s the same thing all the time. There’s - there’s a girl on a horse, and she looks right at me, and she’s always really scared. And then there’s - I don’t know if he’s a monster or a person, but he’s big and scary and he looks like he wants to hurt me and -” He cuts off, wrapping his arms around himself like a hug or a shield.
Hyrule hasn’t heard enough about Time’s adventures to know for sure who that is. But he can hazard a guess, and he exchanges alarmed glances with a few other members of the group. A recurring dream like that sounds like the start of an adventure, to him. Or maybe the result of one. Either option is alarming, given how small Time is.
Wild, on the other side of the camp, makes a soft little boof sound, and Hyrule immediately turns to look for the cause.
Twilight is padding into camp in his wolf shape, ears pricked up and tail wagging, just a bit. He looks open and friendly, as much as a massive wolf with a broken shackle on his leg can look friendly. He weaves between the group, accepting pats and scratches behind the ears, then slowly makes his way up to Time.
Time is frozen, glancing nervously between Twilight and the rest of the group. His eyes land on Hyrule, and Hyrule has never seen such a strong plea for help in all his life.
“This is Wolfie,” he says, because he’s going to trust Twilight’s judgment in changing without announcing it. “He’s friendly, don’t worry. He comes to visit and help us out every so often.”
Twilight makes a very soft whuff sort of noise and edges closer, ducking his head down in what Hyrule thinks is a sign of submission.
Hyrule reaches out and runs a hand over Twilight’s head, getting a bigger tail wag for his efforts. He glances over at Time with a smile. “See? He won’t hurt you.”
“Promise?” Time whispers.
“Promise.”
Time nods a few times, takes a deep, deep breath, and very cautiously reaches out to put his hand on Twilight’s head. He nearly flinches back when Twilight’s ear flicks, but when nothing else happens, he just… stands there, his tiny hand buried in wolf fur, staring in something like awe.
“Have you ever seen a wolf before?” Hyrule asks, and once again his heart breaks, just a little, when Time shakes his head.
“There’s some on the edge of the forest, but I’ve never seen them.” He very carefully starts copying Hyrule’s earlier motion, running his hand lightly back and forth.
Spirit of Courage. Hyrule feels weirdly proud of him.
Twilight is wagging his tail, still, and Hyrule watches as blue eyes meet blue eyes, wolf to Hylian. Time tilts his head slightly to the side, and it’s like there’s some sort of silent communication happening.
Then Twilight moves. He steps forward to curl around Time, herding him with head bumps and walking beside him over to the bedroll he’d apparently already set up, then flops down, taking Time with him. Time yelps and tries to wiggle out from under him, but Twilight just readjusts and lays his head down like he’s already drifting off.
“He sometimes does this,” Sky says with a little laugh, reaching over to pat Twilight’s side. “He’s very good at keeping away nightmares, from what I’ve heard.”
Time pauses in his wiggling. “… Really?”
“Really. Most big, fluffy animals are.”
“… Oh.” Time thinks about that for a long moment, and then he carefully pats Twilight’s side as well. “Okay.”
They all settle in, then. Warriors takes the first watch, Wild curls up next to Twilight, and the others all move to their own bedrolls to try and get as much sleep as they can.
Hyrule stares up at the stars for a while, trying to settle his mind. So much has happened. When he does finally drift off, he dreams of flying on gossamer wings, and speaking in the soft sound of bells.